It's a really cold day / now night here in northern Virginia where I live and I earlier witnessed on our cul de sac snow covering only half of it and not the other : right down the middle! That blew my mind, so to speak and I am just recovering from the magnitude of having to mentally deal with this odd occurrence here at home on my day-off. You just never know , do you? You just can never envision certain things either, can you?
That's okay : you just " deal " and move on. I have, somewhat. It' still a very funny / odd thing to have happened here. Anyway, Blair, one of the owners of the LORD NELSON PUB/ BREWERY and HOTEL gave both Chris and I two of his bottles of beer to bring home when we left his hotel in The Rocks last February ( around the twentieth , I believe ) 2008. It was still summer there in Australia and beautiful.
I thought that perhaps we were bringing the beers back to get them approved for purchase by the Country Vintners importing company now located in Ashland, Virginia wher my college Randolph-Macon is located and where I spent four happy years. What an interesting recent development for me to be digesting these days, like snow on only half of our sul de sac?!?
I have been hanging on to these beers now for almost a year and decided finally tonight o drink this orange-labelled " Old Admiral ". It's so creamy and smooth and frothy and light and bright and airy with hardly a bite or a burn, a yank or a twist, or any sharpness at all in sight! I can't even imagine it any other way. I've been enjoying it immensely now for the last hour and still have a few sips to linger over. Nice.
I started drinking it around 6 PM or so while I started to prepare our family supper. I do this every Sunday and Monday, giving my wife a break which I know she enjoys. Tonight we had some steaks that my mother gave me for this past Christmas 2008 : two t-bones.
My wife drank some of the Spanish white wine , a mic called The Spanish Quarter of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Albarino that is rich and soft and smooth as can be. It's lovely to drink all by itself : medium-bodied, no bite, no burn, refreshing and dry without any edges or tartness. To some it would not be dry or steely enough : to others, most it is simply " just right ".
I had no red wine and perhaps would have enjoyed some if I had had a bottle already open. It occurred to me, however, that to drink one of these two LORD NELSON BREWERY ( the ales/ beers are brewed from malt hops yeast & water, hotel@lordnelson.com.au www.lordnelson.com.au 6.1% Alc/Vol ) ales would be a real treat and would remind me of the marvelous split-day that Chris Pigott and I had enjoyed in Blair's fine establishment and company, too. Blair, a good friend Of LONGVIEW Vineyard's ( Adelaide, South Australia ) past-owner now, Duncan took really fabulous care of us while we stayed under his roof. Thank you Blair and thank you Duncan. These were really special moments for the both of us there in Sydney, Australia. : moments that I will find very hard if not impossible to ever forget.
I just had my last sip : it stats so fresh and full and creamy and rich on the palate. The flavors all marry so incredibly well together and circle around my tongue and then throat, esophagus, too and just land so perfectly to rest contentedly in my stomach. The bit of hops and the wheat flavors are brought so clearly into focus as this is happening : almost as if the ale becomes more centered, more Kodak-perfect in clarity and focus ( almost, too as it enlarges briefly, like so many balloons of flavors being releases in sync and exploding so nicely like a wondrous fireworks display of flavors in my body .... it's inspiring, really. I'm pleasured, pleased, smiling, contented and feeling " the warmth " , the moment : my moment nicely spread now over this last hour.
Here are some pictures that I took while in the pub downstairs of the Lord Nelson Hotel and Brewery where these fine beers ( five or six I believe ) are made just feet away from where we tasted , Chris and I with the young Aussie brew master. Hope you like these photos. I will soon take a picture of this empty bottle and include it, too. The artwork is excellent on these two bottles I have : one orange and one yellow.
I see by looking back at these pictures that I included the beer/ale bottles in them and so you can see them now. I also included a cross-section from the entire afternoon we spent there in Blair's company instead of going out and sightseeing. I think the young man pictured ( not the brew master in the green shirt ) is Duncan's son from an earlier marriage I believe. We met him, too : very nice. They all were from the young lady behind the bar to our waitress pictured with Blair. Also, there's a lady pictured in the office upstairs ( she takes care of the office ) with the wholesaler that ended up joining us for lunch before heading off to sell more wine. The office is where we had to climb up three floors to reach : hard work with bags, good exercise any way you put it! And I've also included the picture outside the hotel with Blair, his wife and one of their two cute children as they headed off to do their morning activities that day.
Blair had the bartender pour all of their beers for me to try, side-by-side to decide which one I liked best to drink that one. It was a fun exercise for me that I enjoyed thoroughly. Bair said that he did not do this for everyone and I appreciated that a lot.
Also notice on the beer board at the bar that the first beer listed in the Quayle Ale for Vice President Dan Quayle that actually was there at the Lord Nelson Hotel / Brewery.
Happy New Year to you Blair, your wife and two children. Come see us here sometime soon. Let us wine, beer and dine you as well as you did us. TONY
